Journaling Your Way Through the Word

Today, we enter a new year, with new dreams, new visions and new possibilities. But as we look at the days ahead with a fresh heart, we also have a fresh new opportunity to dive in the Word…to intentionally draw closer to God during the year. Knowing God and knowing His Word more doesn’t happen by osmosis.

This weekend, Pastor Leo preached about prayer and fasting and he focused on the model prayer (commonly referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer”) in Matthew 6:9-13.

“Our Father in heaven,Hallowed be Your name.Your kingdom come.Your will be doneOn earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our debts,As we forgive our debtors.And do not lead us into temptation,But deliver us from the evil one.For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

And he made this statement about this passage says, “When you pray…”

He said…

“Unless you have a WHEN prayer will become an IF”

I LOVED that! And to be honest, the same is true for time in the Word.

Today, I wanted to share with you a way you can journal your way through the Word this year and see how God moves in your life and the lives of those you are praying for…and to see how you draw closer to Him through the year as you spend precious time in the Word.

SO…I thought I’d share something that may help you in your journey. It’s something that has helped me over the years and I hope it will help you, as well. Here is how I typically JOURNAL MY WAY THROUGH THE WORD…

Write Out…

the date, the passages you will be reading and then the following questions…

1. What is God’s Word saying in context?

2. What is it saying to me?

3. How can I apply it to my life?

4. How is this leading me to pray? (Or “Prayer Targets for the day”)

Then read your Scripture for the day (whether it’s one chapter or five…whatever works for you. Just make God’s Word a primary passion of your heart…and journaling your way through the word will help you do that.)

Then begin writing out what God’s Word was saying in context…what His Word said to you (how the Lord spoke to you in the passages your read), how you can begin to specifically apply it to your life and finally, how what you read in His Word sparked you to pray for some specific things for you, your husband and/or children, someone you know, missionaries or the nations.

And there you have it…how you can journal your way through the Word and draw closer to God throughout the year…one day at a time.

How do you draw closer to God? Do you have a plan to know Him more and to know His Word more this year? Has this helped you?

7 Comments

Thank you so much Stephanie for sharing how we can journal our way through God’s Word! As you already know, I have recently gained a true desire to read the Word, but I wasn’t really sure what to do or how to journal so this has helped tremendously!

Thank you so much Stephanie for sharing. As you already know, I have very recently been given a new life in Christ and a desire to constantly read the Word, but I had no idea how to journal it! This was very helpful, now I just need to get a bible and a journal! 🙂

I love this idea. I enjoyed doing Homeletics during BSF and SOAP currently while I study His word. I like the prompting questions on how the word applies to our lives and can lead us to prayer. Thank you for this direction.

Thanks so much Michelle! Glad it was helpful. It really helps me stay focused and tilt my heart toward heaven as I read. Not just to read words on a page…and not to find nuggets to share for an upcoming speaking event or something I’m writing about…but to hear the Living God speak to me.

This is SO helpful to me. In fact, it’s an answer to prayer! Thank you so much for sharing your practical way of drawing near to God. It’s so much easier to sit down and read the word when you have this kind of plan.

Our pastor recently shared a similar list:
Date:
Passage: Not too many verses especially from NT texts
Summary: write out in your own words what the passage is saying
God Truths/Man truths/Other Truths: Write out pertinent things form the
passage about God, Man or living issues
Application/Prayer: write out points of application or write out a prayer in
response to God

Tehila, Thank you so much for sharing that! I LOVE journaling through the Word. It not only helps me stay focused, but it also helps me see God’s fingerprints in my life as I reflect on how He has spoken to me through the years. He really WOWs me!